While riding my bicycle along one of our county roads, I stopped to contemplate a harvester ant colony. I should tell you I’m an admirer of harvester ants. These ants are those big ones that make low, wide ant hills. I like them for their pure work ethic, because they seem to know just what […]

Hair tousled, with grungy slobber on his shoulder, he approached me, held out his thumb and proceeded to tell me how the horse had bitten it and wouldn’t let go. “Were you giving them peppermints?” I asked my visiting family member. “No, I didn’t have any with me today. Why would he be so mean […]

He was a sorrel, almost 16 hands, and quite healthy-looking. I didn’t have a round pen, so I put him in the woven-wire fenced square pen. I did all the things I’d been taught: tied up his foot, sacked him out, saddled and unsaddled him, leaned over his bare back, picked up his feet. He […]

The heat wasn’t the only thing that bothered me last week. Add these two to the list: • Last Thursday, parody news site The Onion posted, “Obama Turns 50 Despite Republican Objections.” It was good for a quick chuckle, while not so subtly pointing out two inherent problems President Obama has — Republicans’ inclination to […]

Make exercise fun. Sounds great, doesn’t it? I think I know what people mean when they say that, but I am always a little bit suspicious of it. I remember my brother had that same philosophy when we were kids. He would come tell me, “Let’s play like we are in the Navy.” That sounded […]

They were making a big fuss on Spanish TV over hot telenovela star William Levy. I tell my niece, Marili, “Is that his real name?” Marili replies, “Yes, he’s Cuban.” Like if that explains everything. If Martin Sheen — born Ramon Gerardo Antonio Estevez — can change his name (in honor of the late Emmy-winning […]

As many of you regular readers might guess, people tell me their stories — stories about horse wrecks, cow wrecks, sheep wrecks, dog wrecks, financial wrecks, any kind of wreck you can think of. I met JW in Tennessee. He’s a regular reader of my column and thought his story would fit. It seems he […]

How can you tell what kind of fish you caught? This is one of many questions amateur anglers, children and experienced fishermen had a chance to ask Saturday at Oasis State Park’s 20th annual Kid’s Fishing Clinic. The session included volunteers and park rangers answering those questions and many more questions. I also got the […]

WASHINGTON — At noon July 7, Defense Department officials e-mailed surveys to 400,000 servicemembers as part of a special review to prepare the military for a potential repeal of the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that bans gays and lesbians from openly serving, Pentagon officials announced. Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, the commander of […]

Joan Clayton Of all the things you have ever worried about, tell me something good that came about as a result. What is worry? I define it as “rehearsing calamity” or meditating on the worse thing that can happen. It is to feel anxious and uneasy, to be disturbed, harassed or annoyed, to be troubled. […]

The Better Business Bureau in Albuquerque is warning of a phone scam in which callers from Jamaica tell people they have won a prize and need to pay fees to claim it. According to a release from the bureau, the caller identification systems show an 876 area code and the callers have Jamaican speech patterns. […]

Ever seen “Whale Wars”? No? Normally, as regular readers of this column know, I have very low tolerance for reality TV, but there have been a few recent and notable exceptions, of which “Whale Wars” is one. That and a few of the others are the subject of this column. First comes the disclaimer; I […]

By Donna Miles: American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates can accept a proposed congressional amendment overturning the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military, but would prefer that lawmakers wait until a Defense Department review to assess its full impact is completed, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff […]

I love good food, but I have neither the time nor the patience to spend a jillion hours in the kitchen. I also want to be able to eat good food without it going straight to my hips, but I think moderate indulgence has its place. And that is the basis of this column. Before […]

By Wendel Sloan: PNT columnist As local students graduate, I hope commencement speakers will be forthright. Tell high schoolers they’ll be lucky to make it home from “college night” without having maxed-out their credit cards buying rounds for coeds who won’t remember them the next day. Explain how hard an 8 a.m. test is when […]

By David Stevens: Editor for Freedom New Mexico Now that 50 is the new 30, and 85-year-old ex-presidents are jumping out of airplanes, how can you tell if you’re an old-timer? You’re an old-timer if you can remember … • the Green Hornet radio show, which ran from 1936 to 1943. Newspaper publisher Britt Reid […]

By Clarence Plank: Freedom New Mexico Many fishermen have tales to tell about the one that got away. But some of those participating in the “Biggest Catfish Challenge” Derby at Oasis State Park Saturday definitely earned bragging rights. Robert Quinn of Portales has been fishing for nine years and heard about the derby from a […]

By Kevin Wilson: FNM columnist It was over. But I’m not sure if it ever really began. I got the bad news from my friend Robert. Joaquin sent him a text message Sunday morning, and told him it was time to break up. To say it hit Robert out of nowhere is an understatement. Because […]

By Joan Clayton: PNT columnist My students loved for me to tell this story: “A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they […]

Name: Tana Prewitt Job: Hairstylist at Trends Hair Salon Background: Prewitt was raised and graduated from high school in Portales, after which she attended Clovis Community College for her licence. Time on job: One year What does your job entail? I cut and style hair. I pretty much do whatever my customers tell me to […]